LBT & FN Crossover: A Journey Home
by Florida's Firefly
Summary: I haven't made anything new in MONTHS. This is a crossover of two of the coolest animated movies in history  Finding Nemo and The Land Before Time. Be sure to read the enclosed author's note for further info! COMPLETE!
1. Hatching

**Author's Note – please read! (Disclaimer enclosed)**

First of all, I've read submission rules and I don't think I am breaking any rules here. Okay, some of you people may remember that I once made a _Finding Nemo_ story called _No Turning Back_ roughly based off of Don Bluth's original _The Land Before Time_. I soon realized that the story wasn't going as I had planned, and it just kinda fell through after a while – it might get revived one of these days. Until then, though, I decided to actually do a true crossover between the two. A couple of people besides me have proposed this, but I've never seen a complete one around the Internet at all, so I thought I'd do it.

It should be mentioned though that I am not out to make any kind of money from this whatsoever – it is simply for fun. I'm a huge fan of both the original _The Land Before Time_ and _Finding Nemo_ and I'm sure I'm not the only one. All characters are property of Disney & Pixar, and all of my OC's (Jodi, Tara, Leila, Keona, and Greenspot) belong to me. The storyline and underlying script and narration belong to Don Bluth and Universal Pictures.

So what you are about to read is the story of the original _The Land Before Time_ with the characters and environments from _Finding Nemo_. I tried to mesh storylines so that the two movies' stories actually kinda flow together. For example, I fixed it so that the actual _Finding Nemo_ movie logically takes place between Nemo's hatching and the actual beginning of their journey towards the Silver Reef (the _Finding Nemo_ equivalent of the Great Valley. Originally it was called the North Cape but it didn't sound splendid enough).

Also, some scenes have been altered in scenario and script to make the story seem like it could believably take place underwater. For example, the volcanoes seen in _The Land Before Time _have been changed into a dangerous field of hot springs, and instead of trying not to fall in the lava, the challenge is to get across the vast plain without getting scalded to death by the geysers. Script-wise, I had to redo a few lines because of their context – some of the little phrases said by the characters are reminiscent of the 80s and 90s and would rarely be heard coming from a kid these days, so I had to "modernize" it in a way. I also tried to stay true to the _Finding Nemo_ characters so, for example, if Sheldon had to say a line that didn't seem to come from his character, I'd alter the line just enough so that it had the same point, but sounded more Sheldon-ish. That being said, if you by chance haven't seen the original _The Land Before Time_, it's best to watch that before or after reading this fan-fic so you know what's mine and what isn't.

Enjoy!!

_Chapter 1: Hatching_

_Once upon this same earth, beneath the same sun, in a completely different world than yours. In a different world than the ape, and the elephant as well. Different than that of the wolf, the lion, the bear… was the wondrous world of the Great Barrier Reef. Hidden within this secret world lived species of many, many types of different fish. Now the fish were of two kinds. Some had smaller teeth and ate the algae that grew on most of the matter in the water, and some had sharper and larger teeth for eating meat, and they preyed upon the algae-feeders._

_Then it happened, that the reef began to die. The beautiful creatures that appeared to rule the sea were ruled, in truth, by the coral. Desperate for food, some of the schools of fish set off towards the north, searching for Silver Reef - a place still lush and colorful. It was a journey towards life._

_It was a march of many dangers. Sharks and barracudas stalked the schools, waiting to seize any who strayed. The algae-feeders stopped only to hatch their young._

Near a patch of fan coral on one side of the reef, Ted and his wife Jodi kept a vigil on their brood of eggs. The flapjack octopus couple's eggs were set to hatch at any moment.

Finally, one little egg jumped and began to crack down the middle. A nearby shrimp noticed the activity and drifted over to get a look. A little girl octopus poked her head out of her egg and right away saw the little shrimp. Her bright aqua eyes sparkled in amazement and she smiled. She reached out one of her tiny tentacles for the shrimp, who turned and darted in the other direction. The little octopus wiggled the rest of the way out of her egg and began to follow it at quickly as she could.

The shrimp began swimming circles around her, and the little octopus spun around and around until she fell over with a delighted shriek. Determinedly though, she squirmed back up as chased the shrimp as it led her farther away from her nest. A rather large grouper standing nearby then distracted her. She curiously got closer to him to look into his gaping mouth.

"Pearl!" Jodi suddenly showed up and whisked her daughter out of harm's way before the grouper could chomp her.

Pearl leaned back and looked up at her mother with a smile. "Mama!" she giggled.

Jodi smiled and ushered her back to her nest, where her newly hatched brothers and sisters were waiting. Ted and Jodi watched happily as their babies began playing together.

In another part of the reef, Phil the butterfly fish and his wife, Tara, watched as their brood of newborns raced around. Their five little girls squealed with laughter and scurried behind their mother to hide as the last member of Tara's brood chased after them. He was the only boy in the bunch, and at an early age he was turning into quite a little troublemaker.

The boy had been the first to hatch, but he still had a shell piece over his head that was blinding him. Stumbling around, he bumped into Tara's nose. The eggshell cracked and finally fell off. The little butterfly fish blinked his big blue eyes and looked at both of his parents. With a mischievous smile, he paddled back and playfully head-butted his mother.

_Some of the young seemed born without fear._

After turning and then head-butting his father, the little butterfly fish paused and rubbed his sore head. A sudden clap of thunder from the storm above the surface made him nearly jump out of his scales with a scared yelp and hide behind his mother with his sisters.

_Yet, even hatching could be dangerous… One clownfish had lost his mate and all of his children except one single baby, his last hope for the future. And he called him…_

_Nemo._

The little baby clownfish suddenly fell back out of his egg and into the giant world around him. He found himself upside-down, his tail hanging in his view. He somersaulted right side-up and tumbled onto the anemone bed. When he looked up, he saw an adult male clownfish smiling at him.

Marlin chuckled. "Hey, lil' guy…" He leaned in a little closer to him.

Eyes growing wide, Nemo tumbled on his back and tried to edge away from the giant. He curled up into a ball until he felt the soft touch of his father's fin on him. He lifted his head up looked at his dad, and then gave a bit of a smile. After a while, he turned around and reached out his own little fins to touch his father. Marlin smiled and nuzzled his nose against him gently. Nemo was only about as big as Marlin's nose, and the little fish clung to it and nuzzled against his papa. As he did, a school of little fish came floating above the anemone and looked down to see the newcomer. As Nemo continued to nuzzle his father, he opened his eyes and saw all of the fish watching him curiously from above. He gasped. Quickly, he backed away from his audience and hid under Marlin's fin, peeking out shyly.

Marlin seemed wary of the curious spectators, but spoke gently to his son. "It's all right." he reassured with a smile. "Come on out."

Nemo peered up at all of the creatures. As long as they kept their distance… Tiredly, he cuddled up next to his dad's scaly body and yawned deeply. When he opened his eyes again, there were more of the little fish watching. He gasped again and began to try and scramble away. But he wasn't very experienced with his fins - one of them withered - and stumbled down onto the anemone bed.

Marlin chuckled and nudged his son up gently with his nose. Nemo smiled as he slowly began getting used to his new fins. Marlin led him towards the tendrils and carefully brushed his son against them, something the little clownfish would have to learn to do every day to prevent from being stung. When they were done brushing, Marlin returned to the center of the anemone and lay down on the floor.

_All that remained of his school was his father. He knew him by sight, by scent, and by his love. He knew they would be together always._

Chipper little Nemo began swimming around in circles until he stumbled onto the floor next to his father.

"Now," Marlin said to him with a gentle smile, "you be careful, Nemo."

Nemo let out a deep yawn. Sleepily, he snuggled up into Marlin and closed his eyes, curling his tail around and across his nose. With a warm smile, Marlin curled himself protectively around his son and rested his head down, and both fell asleep.

_**TBC…**_


	2. A Legendary Reef

_Chapter 2: A Legendary Reef_

Years passed, but the journey was still on to reach Silver Reef. Several of the new parents stayed in the reef for a few years after their young were born, in order to raise them until they was old enough to travel with them. Marlin's case was no different. He waited until Nemo was almost seven before they set off again.

On the first day of their travels, they weren't very far from home at all when everyone was getting hungry. Nemo was traveling with Marlin and their friend, Dory. Marlin was uncovering a rare patch of algae on the rocks for Nemo to eat.

"Dad?" Nemo looked at his father. "Is this all there is to eat?"

Marlin sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Nemo… The reef's been changing. That's why we have to travel every day, until we reach Silver Reef."

Six year-old Nemo was trying to chew down the rather bitter-tasting algae when he heard his father call him.

"Nemo! Quick, come here!"

Nemo hurried over to his father. Marlin pointed upwards. "Look." His son looked up where he was pointing to a high up coral formation. On the highest branch was a very large, very bright-colored flower. It was a rare find for the time, and stood out like a sore thumb. "A coral blossom." Marlin smiled. He swam up to the bright crimson-colored blossom and carefully detached it with his teeth. He let it float down towards Nemo, who was waiting below. The little clownfish giggled as he swam in circles and reached his good fin for the descending flower. It settled down to a stop in the sand in front of him. "It's so bright!" he smiled. He nudged his nose underneath it, pushing it upwards, and just watched as it floated above him.

Marlin chuckled gently. "It'll help you grow into a stronger swimmer. Where we're going there are so many of these flowers."

Nemo laughed out loud and batted the blossom floating above him like a balloon.

With a smile, Marlin tried to get his son's attention. "C'mon, we have to keep moving," he said with a laugh.

Nemo batted at the blossom again, having more fun playing with it than eating it at the moment. Marlin and Dory looked at each other and chuckled at the youngster's antics.

"Silver Reef is full of food like this." Marlin later described to his son as they continued to travel. "More than you could ever eat. It's an amazing place."

"Wow…" Nemo blinked. "When will we get there?"

Marlin looked up at the surface. "It's still several days away. We have to keep following the wave winds."

"Wave winds?" Nemo looked at him. "What's that?"

Marlin pointed his attention to the waves on the surface. "See how the wind makes the waves all roll in one direction? That's what we have to follow." He smiled a bit at Nemo and continued swimming. "It's lengthy, but it'll be worth it."

Nemo looked up at the waves on the surface, then looked over at Marlin swimming on. He caught up with his dad. "Have _you_ ever seen Silver Reef?"

Marlin stopped swimming. After a moment, he turned towards his son. "…No."

"…Then…" Nemo lowered an eyebrow in confusion. "…How do you know it's really there?"

Marlin gently smiled a bit and shrugged. "…I just know."

Nemo sighed deeply and slumped. "I don't get it, Dad…"

With a small chuckle, Marlin gave his son an affectionate nudge with his nose. "Someday you will, Nemo… Trust me."

Nemo looked back down at his coral blossom in the sand. He smiled hungrily and was about to dig in when his attention was suddenly averted by the sound of laughter behind some distant seaweed. Curious, he went off to find the source.

"Nemo," Marlin called over to him, "don't you wander too far, son."

Nemo poked his head through the seaweed fronds. He smiled when he saw the source of the laughing – it was his friend Tad chasing his sisters around again.

The girls shrieked with laughter as their brother chased them behind a rock. Just then, a baby squid passed by and caught Tad's attention. He watched as the squid just floated by, unaware of him. With a mischievous smile, he swished his tail and took a playful charge at it. The baby squid panicked and darted away. Tad chased it around in circles until it made a quick dart through a fan coral and caused the young butterfly fish to run straight into it. At first a little dazed, Tad shook his head and looked through at the squid, who now seemed very safe behind that coral.

With an impish smile, Tad floated quietly over the top edge of the coral and eyed the squid. He smiled and wiggled his tail, then launched to catch his quarry, when suddenly the squid squirted a cloud of ink straight in his face and darted away.

"Ugh!!!!" Tad yelled and backed away quickly, shaking his head vigorously.

Nemo gasped, at first astonished. Then he burst out into laughter.

Tad blinked as the ink finally cleared away again. He heard Nemo laughing and glared over at his friend. At first, the young butterfly fish looked annoyed. Then he smirked. "So, we meet again, White Stripe!"

Nemo stopped laughing when he realized he had been caught, but then smiled when he noticed his friend playing into their "White Stripe vs. Yellow Blade" game.

Tad got a mischievous smirk and lowered his head, challenging Nemo. "You shouldn't have come here, White Stripe!" he smiled. "Prepare to meet your doom!"

"Not today, Yellow Blade!!" Nemo called back, lowering his head as well.

"_Chaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrge!!!!_" Tad sounded and the two boys bolted for each other. They met halfway and Tad pounced on Nemo, and the two of them laughed out loud as they tumbled back on the sand and roughhoused like the tough little boys they were.

"Tad!!" Phil cut the fun short from the distance, where Tara and Tad's sisters were beginning to head off. "We need to keep going, son! Come on!"

"Nemo!" Marlin called.

The boys got off the ground. Tad turned to Nemo. "We'll meet again, White Stripe." he smiled and kept on playing into his character. "And when we do, it'll be your end!"

Simultaneously, Marlin and Phil came and grabbed their sons by a fin, calmly pulling them away from each other. The fathers nodded to each other in greeting before swimming away with their young.

Nemo seemed confused and glanced over to watch his friend leave. "Wh-Why couldn't I play with Tad for a little bit, Dad?" he complained. "We were having fun!"

"We need to keep moving, Nemo." Marlin said apologetically. "Don't worry, though. When we get to Silver Reef, there will be all sorts of time for you guys to play."

Nemo sighed heavily. "…I wish we were there now…"

"Well, it's a long way off… Past the great rock formation that looks like a whale, past the Field of Geysers… It's still a long way, but we'll get there."

Although disappointed, Nemo dutifully made no other complaint and continued swimming on next to his dad.


	3. Greenspot

_Chapter 3: Greenspot_

That night, Marlin, Dory, and Nemo all bedded down in a soft, sandy patch beneath a coral ridge. Nemo slept curled up next to his father.

Just then, a tiny cricket fish was darting around nearby, and woke Nemo up with its frog-like vocalizing. Nemo gasped when he opened his eyes and saw the funny-looking fish staring right at him with enormous yellow eyes. The cricket fish chirped again and scurried away. Curious, Nemo watched it dart off. He got up from beside Marlin and decided to follow it. "H-Hey, chirper, come back!" he smiled and chased it.

The cricket fish saw him coming and darted down into a tunnel with a startled chirp.

Nemo smiled. He began to swim down the tunnel.

"Nemo!" Tad suddenly appeared out of nowhere and gave him a look. "You're scaring him! That's _my_ chirper." He turned and swam off to follow the cricket fish.

"Well...I saw it first." Nemo defended with his brow furrowed.

"But he's in my coral lane!"

Both of them raced down the tunnel into an open cul-de-sac surrounded mostly by seaweed, sponges, and shelf coral. An entire school of cricket fish let out a chorus of startled chirping and hid from their intruders. Tad and Nemo smiled at realizing they had discovered a secret haven for these guys.

Tad glanced to the side and saw one of the little fish poking its head out of the seaweed to look at them. He got a rascally smile on his face and lowered his head, then took a playful pounce at the cricket fish. The little fish scurried out of the way, and Tad instead landed on a sponge. As he was bounced off of it, he stumbled back and collided with Nemo. Nemo giggled out loud and playfully shoved Tad off.

The young clownfish then spotted another cricket fish peeking out from the seaweed. He smiled playfully and pounced at it. "Yah!!" he shouted as he landed and ricocheted himself off a sponge.

This new game quickly caught on to Nemo and Tad, and the two boys went darting around the cul-de-sac, pouncing and bouncing and colliding together and laughing their heads off. They were having so much fun that neither one of them noticed a dark shadow beginning to slowly come over them.

Just then, the two friends caught a glimpse of silver out of the corners of their eyes and heard a fierce, throaty growl.

It was then they looked up and saw Greenspot – the fiercest of all barracuda, named because of the rare green spot on his forehead.

Tad gasped and the two little fish jumped up. "GREENSPOT!!!"

The barracuda roared and tossed his head, charging straight for the young fishes.

Tad and Nemo turned tail and bolted as fast as they could. "Daddy!!!" yelled Nemo. He and Tad both screamed and almost tripped over each other trying to escape.

Greenspot lunged at them. Quickly, Nemo and Tad swam into the nearby patch of spiked coral. They got down as low as they could and panted. The barracuda growled and swam up to the top of the batch. He lowered his long snout down into the tunnel of coral and began sniffing. He soon reached down to the one coral branch that hung over Nemo and Tad. He pushed it down with its nose a little, deeply inhaling the familiar scent.

Nemo knew that scent was more primary to a predator than sight when it came to catching its prey. So as long as they stayed out of his scent, they were safer. "Go." Nemo nudged Tad along and they both snuck over to a fork in the tunnels.

"Over this way." Nemo whispered, motioning to the right. "This is-"

But Tad quickly hightailed it to the left and swam away as fast as he could.

"No!!" shouted Nemo. "You're going the wrong way!!" He had no alternative but to follow his friend. The path led them to an open spot where there were no thorns, making them totally exposed to the Greenspot. He roared and darted for them. They screamed and quickly hurried into the other side of the thorn patch. The barracuda dived in and took a snap. As Tad hurried ahead, Nemo got caught in tight fronds that were growing out through the rocks. He panted and strained, trying to swim away. But the seaweed had him trapped. He looked behind himself to see the barracuda edging closer and closer with a snarl. He gasped and gave it all that he had against the frond. It finally snapped and he raced ahead while the vine whipped back and hit Greenspot in the face. He roared and reared back, shaking his head vigorously.

Tad and Nemo swam as fast as they could. Greenspot made a quick dart for the two young fish. They screamed as they suddenly came to a dead end where a wall stood in front of them. They turned to see the barracuda race up with its bloodthirsty jaws wide open.

Suddenly, a blur of orange came in and slammed at full speed into the predator. The barracuda tumbled back. Marlin zipped away from it and rushed in front of Nemo and Tad.

Nemo looked shocked. "Dad?!"

"Go!" Marlin nudged the two of them along. "Go!!"

But Greenspot was quick to make a comeback. Marlin zipped off to the side and came full throttle towards it. He bashed into the monster again, and then backed up. The barracuda swung its head towards him and hissed. Marlin bared his teeth and rushed to the side, ramming into the monster's body again, this time on its soft underbelly. The barracuda roared and reeled back, trying to recover again.

Marlin swam off as fast as he could, holding Nemo and Tad by the fin. As soon as Greenspot recovered again, he snarled and lunged at Marlin.

Nemo and Tad raced ahead of Marlin when he told them to. They turned and saw the barracuda grab Marlin and shake him vigorously like a dog would to a rat and then fling him into a rock. Marlin forced himself back up and barreled towards him again. He made a quick turn of his head to the right and snapped his jaws again and again, trying to nab the clownfish. As the battle continued, Tad and Nemo swam off in fear. Marlin soon joined them, badly bruised and bleeding some. He had gotten a good nick in his dorsal fin as well from when the barracuda had grabbed him with his teeth. He kept his eye on the killer until Nemo and Tad could make a getaway. He rammed Greenspot one more time in the underbelly, sending it back. He limped off with Nemo and Tad as quickly as he could swim.

Just then, a crack in the rock came surging towards them, and the ground began to rumble. The cataclysm made Marlin stumble and he collapsed onto the ground with a pained grunt. Nemo and Tad scurried out of the way of the splitting ground, screaming. As the ground split, water went rushing into it, creating a powerful vacuum. Nemo and Tad gasped in horror as they saw a few fish try to escape but get sucked right down.

Just then, Greenspot roared and tore after him. Nemo and Tad screamed and swam off as fast as they could.

Greenspot grew on their tails, and then ducked to come up from under and surprise them. He darted up and snapped his jaws, barely missing the two. When he closed his mouth again, he darted up further, and Nemo and Tad found themselves grasping onto the barracuda's snout. Nemo yelped.

And then, suddenly, an enormous geyser blew right up in front of them. The Greenspot roared and Nemo and Tad screamed. The barracuda stumbled back into a pile of big rocks, right above a split in the ground with a mild vaccuum. Nemo and Tad were sent stumbling back. They grabbed onto the barracuda's tail just in time. Suddenly, a big rock fell and got the predator in the stomach. Nemo, Tad, and Greenspot were all sent hurdling down into the deep pit.

"AAAAHHH!!!" cried Nemo and Tad.

"DADDY!!" Nemo screamed.

A distance away, Marlin quickly brought his head up from the ground at the sound of his son's cries for help.

The two little fish began scrambling up Greenspot's back to get back up to safe waters, fighting against the vaccum as hard as they could. Snarling, the predatory fish watched as they swam past his snout. He took a wild snap at the morsels and missed by barely an inch. Pushing the rock off of himself, the barracuda lurched forward and snapped again and again. Although he missed each time, he was getting dangerously close by the second. Finally, he lurched forward and opened its jaws, bringing rows of deadly teeth both above and below the two fish. But, before he could snap, Marlin suddenly appeared and rapidly pushed Nemo and Tad out of the way just in time. When Greenspot snapped his jaws again, he got nothing but a mouthful of water. And before he could do anything else, a big boulder came and bashed right into him, sending him back down into the pit with a roar.

Marlin, Nemo, and Tad made it up to the safer water. Marlin nudged Nemo to swim and they raced off together quickly. Tad swam off to try and find his dad. "DADDY!!" he shouted.

In the distance, Phil spun around. "Tad??"

Suddenly, the earth began to shake. The ground began splitting beneath the fish. They all yelled and scattered all over the place. Marlin and Nemo bolted fin-in-fin as fast as they could, but didn't get too far. A stray rock came out of nowhere and struck Marlin back, and the violent shaking threw Nemo off his fins and sent him spinning.

Sheldon saw his father in the distance and raced for him as fast as his little tail could take him. "Daaaaad!!!" he yelled. A sudden split in the ground made him pull to a sudden halt. He screamed and paddled back quickly before the current could grab him.

_In this time of the clash of the faults, a great earthquake split the reef. Schools were divided. Families were cut in two. Nemo was separated from Dory._

When the tremendous earthquake finally seized, the reef was wrecked. Squirt raced to the edge of the break and looked up at the high ridge where he saw his parents.

"Squirt!!" Crush yelled.

"Mama! Dad!!"

_Squirt was on one side of the divide. His parents…were on the other._

_**TBC…**_


	4. Nemo Alone

_Chapter 4: Nemo Alone_

When night came along, Nemo was swimming through the obliterated reef, unable to recognize a thing anymore. "Dad!" he called. He looked out over the land, seeing nothing but a lifeless wreck.

He searched for hours. Lightning flashed in the sky above the water, ensued by rumbles of thunder. Nemo called for Marlin. "Dad?" He looked around in every which way possible. "Daddy!!" He swam through the wrecked reef, searching behind corals and banding around rocks. "Dad, where are you?"

Suddenly, he heard a quiet and pained moan. He looked ahead and saw his dad, lying under some wrecked coral. He rushed towards him. "Dad!!" As he approached, he gasped when he saw the condition his dad was in. Marlin's body was badly battered. Dark bruises were all on his scales, and cuts showed as much, some of them pretty deep. His tail was torn with a deep gash. Marlin moaned again and opened his eyes slightly.

"…Nemo…"

"…D-Dad?" Nemo panted. "You gotta get up!"

Marlin grimaced and grunted. "I'm…not sure I can, Nemo…"

"Yes, you can!" There was worry in Nemo's voice. "G-Get up!"

Grunting, Marlin attempted to rise up by swishing his tail fin weakly. Failingly, he grimaced in pain from his torn tail and fell back down on the muddy ground. His bleeding head dropped and sank into the mud.

Nemo whimpered a little. He was beginning to get a little scared. He came and lay right across from his father, trying to get down to his level.

"…Nemo…?" Marlin looked at him. "…Do you remember the way to Silver Reef?"

Nemo sniffled a bit. He found himself getting very upset but he didn't know why. But the fact that he could only stand there watching his dad in this much pain scared him nearly to death. He finally spoke up, but his was faltering a bit. "I guess so…" He put his head closer and closed his eyes, burying his face next to Marlin's. "But why do I hafta know? You're gonna be with me!"

Marlin smiled weakly but lovingly and nudged him softly, protectively gripping his lucky fin. "…'Course I will… Even if you can't see me."

Nemo opened his wet eyes long enough to look up at him. "What do you mean if I can't see you? Y-You're right there!" He closed his eyes again and cuddled close to his side.

Although he was growing weaker, Marlin smiled and spoke softly to his son. "I love you, Nemo. I couldn't be more proud of you… You've got a good heart… Listen to it." Marlin closed his eyes. "…It'll tell you what to do…"

Nemo sniffled and remained cuddled up against him. Marlin's body was slightly curled around him, and for a moment father and son stayed that way. After a minute, Nemo heard a quiet sigh, and glanced up to his dad's face. "…Dad?" His voice quivered. "…Daddy…?"

The sun came up hours later and shone its golden rays through the waves. That morning though, Nemo hardly noticed its splendor. He had stayed with his dad the rest of night, crying himself to sleep nestled against the lifeless figure. He didn't want to leave when morning came, but he knew he had to.

He swam quietly through the wrecked land, sobbing a little with his eyes lowered to the ground. He couldn't stop thinking about his dad. Finally, he swam sadly across a rotten log on the sand and lay down at the end of it, putting his head down and closing his eyes with a sniffle. No sooner had he lain down that it caved in, carrying him with it. He gasped as he dropped and went tumbling down a hill. At the bottom, he was tossed into something big, gray, and scaly. He began to cry, and only moved when the scaly object spoke and turned around.

"Hey!"

Nemo gasped and backed away as he saw a giant, old grouper turn toward him.

The grouper's brow furrowed sternly as he observed his unexpected visitor. "What's goin' on here?"

Lying on his stomach and staring at him, Nemo unsuccessfully tried to choke back his sobs and didn't say anything. Still staring at the much larger fish, he lowered his head with tears in his eyes.

The grouper looked at the youngster and raised a gray eyebrow. "What's your problem? You're not hurt."

"It's not fair!" cried Nemo, talking more to himself than to the grouper. "He should've known better! That was a barracuda!" He wiped away his tears furiously and looked at the ground. "It's all his fault."

"All whose fault?"

"Daddy's!" Nemo sobbed again.

The grouper's face softened. "Oh…I see…I see."

"Why did I wander so far from home?" Nemo covered his eyes with his fins and began to cry again, harder this time.

"Oh, it's not your fault…" the grouper reassured. "It's not your dad's fault. Now…you listenin' to old Rudder?"

The young clownfish quieted his sobs. "…Yes…But…"

Rudder looked gently at Nemo. "It is nobody's fault. The great circle of life has begun… But see, not all of us arrive together in the end."

"But what do I do?" Nemo asked with tears in his eyes. "I miss him so much!"

"And you'll always miss him, but he'll always be with you as long as you remember the things he taught you. In a way, you're never apart…for you are still a part of each other."

Nemo didn't understand these words of wisdom, and it only made his stomach sink. "My tummy hurts." he glanced away.

"Well…that too will go in time, little fellah… Only in time." The old grouper turned and swam away, leaving Nemo once more on his own.

Later that day, not very far away in the same part of the reef, a group of baby pygmy seahorses were stopping long enough to get food. One baby caught eye of a single coral blossom at the tip of a coral branch. He smiled and quickly snagged it in his mouth, but was quickly interrupted by his brother, who came in and tried to snatch it away. One by one, the baby seahorse's brothers and sisters became aware of the rare food find and a squabble started about who was going to get it. The argument was cut short when a passing crab literally snatched the blossom "from the mouths of babes". But luckily for the babies, their mother had been gathering enough blossoms to feed them all. Then the babies, each with a coral blossom in their mouth, followed in a single line behind their mother, resuming their journey to the reef.

The smallest of the babies happened by Nemo, who was lying on the rocks and just staring into nothing. The little seahorse noticed that the young clownfish looked very sad and cocked his head in confusion.

_At first, Nemo could only think about his father. He hardly noticed his hunger, and forgot about Silver Reef, and that he must somehow reach it._

The little seahorse turned to swim off after his family, and then paused. He looked at Nemo and cocked his head. Then, he lowered his head and dropped his coral blossom in front of Nemo, offering it to him. Nemo didn't even take his eyes off the ground.

The baby cocked his head. Maybe he just hadn't noticed him there. He lowered his nose and nudged the blossom a little closer, then smiled and paddled back a bit. Nemo seemed to notice he was there, but still didn't look up. With a sigh, the baby seahorse pushed the blossom even closer and looked up at Nemo hopefully.

Finally, Nemo just turned his head away slowly and closed his eyes, letting out a deep, heartbroken sigh. The seahorse frowned worriedly.

The young clownfish later made his way back home to the wrecked reef that he once called home. It wasn't far away, but it was hardly recognizable anymore. But it was a miracle that the anemone has somehow survived the quake. The surrounding strip of coral Nemo had traveled so many times with his father was a bit wrecked and torn up, but the fuchsia and gold anemone looked the same as it had always been.

Entering through the golden tendrils, Nemo floated in and looked around. Most of his life had been in this anemone, always under the eye of his watchful, loving father he now missed so greatly.

His childlike vulnerability suddenly hit him hard, and choking back tears he stumbled down into the spot of the anemone bed where Marlin had always slept. Nemo shut his tear-filled eyes tightly and let out a single sob, nudging down as deeply as he could into the spot. He closed his eyes tighter, clinging to the bed like it was the last thing on Earth, and tried to imagine Marlin was there. This anemone were the only things he had left to remind him of his dad. But if he was going to survive, he'd soon have to leave it.

After a moment, Nemo finally forced himself up off the anemone bed. He sniffled and turned to leave. But he paused to glance back and look one more time at the only home he'd ever known before beginning to push his way out of the tendrils.

_Nemo…_

Nemo stopped right where he was when he heard a familiar voice. It seemed to come from behind him, yet it sounded so distant. He turned around quickly and looked around the anemone, but didn't see anyone.

All of the sudden, he caught a glimpse of color above him. He quickly looked up and was astonished to see the coral blossom his dad had given him floating right down into the anemone and landing in front of him. Nemo leaned in to look at the blossom, and was very startled when he heard the familiar voice again – the voice of his dad.

_Nemo… Do you remember the way to Silver Reef?_

Nemo shook his head a bit, completely speechless.

_Follow the wave winds past the great rock formation that looks like a whale, and past the Field of Geysers… I'll be with you, Nemo… And I'm never gonna leave._

Nemo stared at the blossom, still a little startled. He waited a little while longer for the voice to speak again, but it had mysteriously ceased all of the sudden. Glancing behind him, Nemo blinked. Turning back around, he carefully nudged underneath the blossom so that it draped over his back. Then, he finally turned and pushed his way past the tendrils and swam out once more into the wrecked vastness around him.

The earthquake had created a vacuum-like downdraft all about the trench dividing the reef, so one couldn't try to reach the other side without getting sucked down into the underground gully. Nemo searched all along the edge of the trench for a place where the current was weak enough for him to swim through, but he couldn't seem to find such a place.

For a while he wandered aimlessly around the reef, confused on what to do or where exactly to go. He was scared to try and travel all the way to Silver Reef by himself – it was just too far away and too scary of a trip.

By sunset, he was just lying atop some rocks, staring at the ground and trying to figure out what to do. Sighing, he looked up. He suddenly gasped. He was seeing his shadow up against a mass of orange and white coral, making the illusion of another clownfish. "…Dad?" Nemo slowly smiled. He jumped up. "Daddy!!" He watched as the illusion jumped up with him. He laughed as sped towards the coral. "Dad! It's you!!" He watched as the illusion seemed to swim away. "Wait, Dad! Wait!!" He swam just as fast as he could. As he swam into the coral, he threw his fins around it. He hugged it tightly, closing his eyes with a smile. Then, after a few seconds, he looked and realized that he was hugging only a coral and that his dad existed only in his head now. Sadly, he dropped his fins off of the coral, hung his head, and turned away.

_Then Nemo knew for certain that he was alone. And that though Silver Reef was far away, and the journey there was perilous, he would have to find his way or the chain of life would be broken._

Nemo made his way back towards the trench cause by the earthquake, planning to swim along the trench once more for an opening past the downdraft. The young clownfish caught a glimpse of bright color out of the corner of his eye, and quickly looked over to see none other than Tad floating by the trench. For a moment a burst of hope came to Nemo at the sight of a familiar, friendly face. "Tad!!" he smiled and raced over to him. "Tad! Hi!!"

Tad looked irritated to see him. "Oh, what do _you_ want?"

Nemo smiled. "Nothing. Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find my _own_ kind," Tad announced. "They're on the other side."

The two friends floated on the edge of the divide. "But…I've looked all over here." Nemo said. "There's a current. You can't climb up the other side—"

"Maybe _you_ can't." Tad interrupted stubbornly. The young butterfly fish began to carefully edge his way down the rocks, holding on to them so that the current wouldn't pull him down.

"Wait!" Nemo tried to stop him. "I'm going to Silver Reef. We could…uh…"

"Aaahh—!!" Tad yelped as he started to lose grip on the rocks, but Nemo reached out and quickly grabbed his fin.

"…Help each other!"

"Huh…" Tad frowned at him, pulled away, and announced, "A butterfly fish never needs help from a clownfish."

Just then, the current grabbed him. He gasped and tried to hold on, but he lost his grip and screamed as the current carried him down to the bottom of the trench and dropped him on the ground.

Nemo looked over the edge at him. "W-Well…at least we wouldn't be alone!" he called.

Tad regained his pride and got up off the ground. "Well," he called back, "when I find my family, I won't _be_ alone! So go away!" He turned with a huff and swam off into the depths of the trench. "It's your fault we got lost anyway!!" he yelled back.

Nemo watched him disappear into the darkness. He then realized that he was once again alone. This combined with the reality of Tad's last statement made him fight back tears. His head and tail drooped, and he let out a deep, sad sigh. Then, he turned and listlessly started swimming away in the direction of the wave winds.

He'd have to make the journey alone.

_**TBC…**_


	5. Traveling Companions

_Chapter 5: Traveling Companions_

Down by a scarce patch of rocks and seaweed, Pearl was scavenging around for clams to eat. At one point, she looked up and saw a lone figure in the distance, lying on top of a rock. Recognizing the figure, she swam over and smiled when she saw Nemo there. "Hi, Nemo!" she greeted. After a moment of no response, the smile slid off her face and she realized that her friend was staring at the ground and looking very sad. "…N-Nemo? You haven't lost your voice, have you? What's wrong?"

Nemo finally glanced up at her. "…You're a girl. You wouldn't understand." He got up and turned to leave.

"Who says?" Pearl frowned and followed him.

"Everyone says it. Girls don't understand anything. They have to make a big gossip out of everything." Nemo turned to look at her. "What are you doing out here anyway?"

Pearl sighed sadly. "Actually, I'm lost…" She sniffled and looked down at the ground. "I lost my family in the big earthquake."

"…Um…" Nemo spoke up after a while. "…You wanna go with me?"

"Yeah!!" Pearl jumped up excitedly, but quickly calmed herself again with a little smile. "Oh, I mean…yes I do, Nemo."

Nemo's spirits lifted at the new companionship he had in his octopus friend. He smiled. "Okay, come on!" The two friends turned to swim off to the north. "But ya hafta keep up." Nemo called back.

"I will!" Pearl smiled as she followed. "Where are we going?"

"To Silver Reef." Nemo replied. "I'm not stopping 'til I find Dory."

"Um, do you think my family will be at Silver Reef, too? Huh?"

"Umm… Maybe. My dad said that's where all the schools are going."

"I hope so…" Pearl muttered.

The two friends set off across the rocky sand flats, keeping towards the surface of the water. Pearl looked up, and after a moment lifted one tentacle up, barely sticking it above the surface so that it streaked the water as they swam. Nemo smiled and stuck his own fin above the surface, mesmerized by the streak it caused on the surface. He began getting inventive, darting back and forth to make a zigzag streak. Pearl caught onto making all kinds of different lines and shapes from the streaks, and it became a mesmerizing pastime as they swam on.

After a while, the game was interrupted by the grumble of Pearl's stomach. She smiled and looked up at Nemo. "My stomach's talking."

Nemo realized he was also feeling hungry. "Mine too." He looked up at a small patch of kelp they were approaching. "Mm…" he thought out loud. "I wonder what this tastes like." He reached out and snagged a frond with his teeth, tugging at it. The moment he grabbed it, a startled shout came from it.

Pearl gasped and her eyes went wide. "…N-Nemo, the kelp's talking."

"No, it isn't." Nemo gave her a glare, still tugging at the frond with his teeth.

"You shouldn't eat talking kelp…"

"Wh-Whoa!!" the voice yelped, then a something suddenly came sliding down the frond of seaweed, latched on by the tail. It fell on top of Nemo with a surprised yelp. Nemo opened his eyes. Not even an inch away from his face, a pair of purple eyes stared at him wide-eyed. Nemo simply did what any of us would've done.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" The young clownfish stumbled back. In a chaotic flurry of motion, Nemo fell back into the sand, Pearl screamed and hid behind him, and the form that had fallen on Nemo let out a startled sneeze that sent it flying back into a nearby grotto with a shriek.

"Ow!!" Nemo and Pearl heard a familiar voice from inside the grotto. Once the chaos had stopped, Pearl peeked out from behind Nemo. She quickly swam over to the grotto and looked in. "…Sheldon!"

Indeed, the scary form that had fallen on Nemo and flew back into the grotto was just their nervous seahorse friend, who was now crammed into the small space with his tail curled around the top of his head. He was panting and staring wide-eyed at his friends.

Nemo got his coral blossom that had fallen on the ground in the chaos and rushed up to Pearl's side, looking in with her. "Sheldon!" he exclaimed.

"…H-Hi…"

"What are you doing here? Pearl asked. "Are you lost, too?"

"Uh-huh…" Sheldon squirmed, trying to wiggle his way out of the grotto. "My family's on the other side of the trench and I can't get to the other side."

"We can't either." Pearl frowned. She then had a thought. "What if you came with us to Silver Reef?"

Sheldon lowered an eyebrow. "To what-what?"

"It's where all the schools are going." Nemo explained. "Your family's probably going there, too."

As Nemo was speaking, Sheldon was struggling to wiggle out of the grotto. Nemo reached in and gripped him by the tail with a fin, and then pulled. Pearl helped, and after a bit of struggling the little seahorse sneezed and popped out of the hole.

Meanwhile, Tad was still wandering around the dark trench. Needless to say, he was very lost. The only source of light he had was the narrow shafts of sun coming through the breaks at the top of the gully.

A little nervous and scared, the young butterfly fish swam backwards, looking all around and keeping his fin outstretched to the sides so he didn't run into anything. He all of the sudden gave a startled yelp when the hard texture of the rocks gave way to a softer, scaly feel. He spun around, but couldn't see anything except a strange silver wall. He looked up as the light shafts slowly poured in. Slowly, the shafts unveiled from the darkness the large, long, silvery form of Greenspot lying on his back.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" Tad screamed and bolted behind a boulder like the devil was on his tail. A long moment of silence followed. Then, with his whole frame shaking like mad, he barely peeked out at the monster. It was now he noticed that the barracuda was sprawled out on his back with his mouth open slightly and his eyes closed, and he wasn't even breathing.

"…Hee." Tad grinned cockily to himself when he realized he could have a little fun payback with a dead barracuda. He came out from behind the rock and strutted up to Greenspot's head. He looked up at the horrendous teeth, now useless in that dead, gaping mouth.

Taking a deep breath, Tad blew a raspberry at those teeth. Then, he promptly rammed into Greenspot's snout. He backed up farther and rushed at him again, ramming it even harder. He grinned to himself and buckled down, charging forward and ramming the snout again but this time ricocheting himself off. He swam off until he was a few good yards away from the barracuda and spun around to face him. He gave an impish smile and lowered his head, wiggling his tail and preparing for his biggest charge yet. Finally, he launched forward and went rushing for Greenspot's eye as hard and fast as he could. He lowered his head as he approached.

Suddenly Greenspot's eye snapped open and the catlike, black pupil dilated as it fixated on Tad. The ice-cold, empty blue irises flashed in the light.

The moment he noticed this, Tad's eyes widened. He screamed and skidded to a stop as hard and fast as he could, stopping a mere few centimeters away from the bloodcurdling, ravenous eyes. He swerved around and darted away as fast as his tail could take him.

Greenspot squirmed and gaped his mouth open, letting out a shrill growl. He glared fiercely as he watched Tad scuttle away. Rolling over, the barracuda snarled and his large tail smacked against the rocks.

Nemo lifted his head up at the sound of a strange growling noise. "Shh…quiet…" he whispered back to Pearl and Sheldon, who was now accompanying them in their travels. "…Stay low." The three friends ducked behind a rock as the source of the growling got closer.

Pearl let out a silent gasp as an eel slithered by, minding his own business and searching for food.

Just then, Sheldon's stomach rumbled. The young seahorse bit his lip and flinched a bit. The eel lifted his head at the sound and listened closely. But after a moment, he swam on. The kids waited quietly until he had passed.

With his coral blossom draped over his back, Nemo led them off.

"I'm hungry…" Pearl muttered.

"We're all hungry." Nemo told her.

Sheldon looked up. "Hey, Nemo, you have food!" he swam over and fetched the blossom. He swam off to the side and opened his mouth to take a bite of one of the petals.

"No!!!" Nemo yelled and darted at him. He snatched the blossom away from Sheldon and glared at him. "You can't eat it!" he yelled. "You can't even touch it! You'll tear it!!"

Sheldon flinched at his friend's sudden sharpness, looking very apologetic.

"It's very special," Pearl explained to him. "Very. His dad gave it to him."

"Ohhhhh," Sheldon raised his eyebrows, understanding now why Nemo had gotten so defensive. "That is important…" He swam over and carefully took the blossom from Nemo, draping it over his head. He shook his head so he could see from under the petals. "Don't worry, Nemo! I'll keep it safe and makes sure nobody touches it!" he said dutifully.

Pearl laughed at how he looked with the flower on his head. "Yep, Sheldon will keep it safe, Nemo."

"No, he won't." Nemo sang and grabbed his blossom back with a glare. "I said don't touch it, okay??"

Just then, the friends heard screaming in the distance that startled them so much they immediately went into a whirl. They all screamed and took off in a random direction, not knowing where or why they were running but not willing to stop and find out. They were in a dangerous part of the ocean and screaming most likely meant danger around those parts.

"AAHH!!" Sheldon's eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he tried to pull to a halt. He noticed they were careening towards something fast and yellow. "DANGER!!!"

The three of they tried to stop in time, but couldn't stop before they crashed straight into the yellow shape, which went tumbling back and hit something with a grunt.

"Oww…" Nemo rubbed his head where had smacked it in the collision.

He, Pearl, and Sheldon all looked up. They saw Tad, stuck in between two branches of staghorn coral with the front fronds of his tuft hanging over his face. They noticed he also looked a bit wide-eyed and he was panting. He had obviously been who was screaming.

"Tad!" Nemo swam over to him with Pearl and Sheldon. "It's you! What happened to ya?" he panted. "Why are you so scared?"

Tad quickly gathered himself and pulled himself out of the coral. "Scared? Me? Hah!" He laughed and pushed his way past his friends. "Why are _you_ so scared?"

"We're not scared!" Nemo defended. "…Are we?"

"Nope!" Pearl declared.

"Oh, yeah? Well, you _should_ be." Tad announced. "I could be with the rest of my family, but I chose to come back and warn _you_." He grinned. "I…met…with Greenspot!!"

Sheldon's eyes widened and he gasped. "Greenspot?? AAHH!!" he yelped and darted behind Nemo, as if it was going to help protect him.

Nemo glared at Tad. "C'mon, Tad. Greenspot is dead. He fell into the trench caused by the quake!"

"And that's _exactly_…where he met _me_." Tad said in a spooky voice.

"Wow…" Pearl stared at her friend in awe. "You're so brave, Tad!"

"Yeah, seriously!" Sheldon chimed in, getting a glare from Nemo.

"Yes…" Tad smirked pridefully. "I am brave, aren't I?"

"Greenspot is _dead_!!" Nemo insisted.

"My father told me that clownfish have very small brains." Tad smirked.

Nemo glared and started to swim off. Tad darted in front of him.

"I was all alone with him in the dark…" he continued. "Just Greenspot and me…" He turned to where Pearl underneath the coral ridge. "I could hear him breathing… Grrrrrrr………._Grrrrrrrrrrr_!"

Pearl eyes widened and she ducked farther beneath the ridge.

Tad leaned towards her and closed one eye, staring at her with the other. "I could see his one _big_, ugly eye _staring_ at me…"

Pearl gasped. "What did you do?" she asked eagerly, coming out from under the ridge.

With a cocky smile, Tad swam back over to Nemo and Sheldon. "I swam right up to him." He announced and ascended on Nemo and Sheldon slowly, giving them a creepy smile. "I looked 'im straight in that eye…and said…"

"RAAAHHHH!!!"

A very sudden, very large form suddenly came hurtling at them, making them all scream and dive for cover. After they stopped screaming, they heard a familiar laugh. They all peeked out from their hiding place underneath the coral ridge.

Squirt was reeled back in fits of laughter.

"Squirt?" Pearl smiled after a moment. "It's just you!"

"Dudes, you totally should've seen the looks on your faces!" the little turtle chuckled.

"Hey, that wasn't funny!" Tad scowled.

Squirt giggled. "Yes, it was."

Nemo smirked at Tad. "What's the matter, Tad? Not scared of barracudas but terrified of a sea turtle?"

"Shut up." Tad glared at him.

"Are you dudes goin' to Silver Reef?" Squirt asked.

"Yeah!" Sheldon brightened. "Are you goin' there, too?"

"Kinda…" Squirt shrugged. "Totally don't know exactly _how_ to get there…"

"Nemo knows!" Pearl smiled. "He's the leader."

Tad giggled. "Yeah, the _ring_leader. Hee, ya get it? Ringleader? Clownfish…? "…Clown?"

His four friends just stared blankly at him for a long time.

"So," Pearl turned back to Squirt and broke the silence. "Wanna come with us?"

"Sure, dude!" Squirt smiled, then cast a smile over at Tad. "As long as I don't give Tad here another heart attack."

"Haa-haa-haa…." Tad droned. "Real cute."

_**TBC…**_


	6. Never Such A School

_Chapter 6: Never Such A School_

_So, the five hungry friends set out for Silver Reef. There had never been such a school before. A clownfish, a butterfly fish, a flapjack octopus, a seahorse, and a sea turtle – all traveling together, all knowing that if they'd lose their way they would starve…or find themselves in Greenspot's shadow._

The five friends later found themselves along a strip of very fine sand, looking for food. "Kelp and coral grows where there's clear water and good sand." Nemo thought out loud as he observed the sand. "So if we follow this strip…"

Sheldon sighed. "Man, there's no food here and I'm still hungry!"

"I'm still hungry, too…" Pearl muttered and dropped down on Squirt's head.

Nemo sighed and his friends complaining. After a moment, he caught a scent on the water and sniffed. "Do you smell something?"

Squirt lifted his nose and started to sniff with Pearl still on his head. "Yeah…I smell an octopus."

Pearl giggled.

"It's pretty clear around here…" Nemo inhaled the scent. "I smell…kelp!!"

The friends looked down through a deep cavern. Beyond that was a wide valley of stone, and within that was a large, lush patch of kelp and coral.

"Hey, check it out!" Squirt yelled. "Food!!"

"Silver Reef!!!" Tad cheered. He danced back and forth tauntingly. "I found it! I found it!" he sang.

Nemo gave him a glare. "Tad!"

"I found it!" Tad grinned.

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble violently. Nemo and his friends had to hold onto the rocks to steady themselves.

"Earthquake!!" Pearl shouted.

"We gotta get outta here!" Nemo yelled and led them in a scramble towards the valley. "This way! C'mon!!"

The five friends scurried down the slopes for the valley. But before they could get very far, an enormous school of halibut came pouring out behind them and stormed for the valley. To avoid being stampeded, Nemo and his friends dove down beneath a rocky ridge and kept their heads down.

The rumbling ceased when the last of the halibut school passed over them. One by one, the five friends peeked over the rocks to look down at them. Tad shoved his way to the front and look down into the valley, gasping at what he saw.

The starving halibut were quickly gorging themselves on the entire patch of kelp. "They're eating our food!" Tad exclaimed. He glared. "Would ya just look what they're doing! They're so greedy!! What about me? I'm still hungry!!"

"Hah!' Sheldon glared. "_You're_ hungry? I'm empty all the way to the top!" His frustration quickly gave way to dismay. "Now we're at Silver Reef and _still_ have no food!!" He sighed and hung his head. "We'll be hungry _forever_!"

Nemo shook his head. "C'mon, Sheldon… Tad's wrong. This isn't Silver Reef." He looked down to the valley, where the school of halibut was departing from the now empty kelp patch. "Well…" he sighed, "guess we'd better go down and see if there's anything left…"

Later, the five friends went towards a lone-standing purple coral. It was very tall and high, but there were plenty of coral blossoms at the top.

"Sheldon?" Nemo looked at his seahorse friend. "You have a really good grip with your tail. Think maybe you could climb up there and--?"

"No!" Sheldon said quickly. "No! You know I don't like heights, man!"

"Aw, it's okay, Sheldon." Pearl reassured. "I can help get you up there."

Nemo went over to the base of the coral and looked up. The blossoms looked tempting and delicious, and everyone's stomachs were already grumbling. "Over here, guys," he called back.

Pearl led a nervous Sheldon over to him. She got up on Nemo's back, and then pulled Sheldon carefully up on top of her. Sheldon's teeth chattered as Nemo carefully tried to push them up towards the blossoms. All of the sudden, Pearl slipped and accidentally whacked Nemo in the face with her tentacles.

"Hey—Ow!!" Nemo shouted. "Pearl, no! Push Sheldon _towards_ the blossoms!"

Sheldon whimpered and very carefully and slowly leaned back and inched his tail towards the blossoms. He barely got anywhere, however, before he started to slip, yelped and clung to Pearl for life.

Squirt swam up to them. "Here, Nemo, I got it, dude!" He went to help push Nemo up.

"Okay, Squirt…" Nemo glanced back. "Just don't bring your head up too-- Whoa!" he gave a startled yell as Squirt pushed his head underneath him and started to push him up. "O-Okay… Hey, not too fast. Hey, not too fast!"

Squirt wasn't paying that much attention and lifted his head up all the way. Nemo, Sheldon, and Pearl all yelled in surprise as they were suddenly pushed much higher up. Sheldon whimpered, and made the terrible mistake of looking down. His eyes widened and he started stuttering in terror. Then faster than anything, he clung to Pearl again, almost choking her.

"Ack!" Pearl coughed.

Tad was in a fit of giggles on the ground as he watched his friends. "You guys look _so_ ridiculous!!!" he cackled.

Sheldon finally got courage enough and reached his tail up to the top of the coral, and then started pulling blossoms off as quickly as he could. As he pulled them off, the blossoms slowly drifted downwards towards the ground. Poor starving Squirt watched them as they fell past him. If only he could reach one without slipping…

The little turtle reached out a flipper as carefully as he could to try and pull one of the blossoms in. He reached little by little until his other flipper slipped and he stumbled to the ground out from under Nemo. Nemo grunted and tried to hold on, but soon slipped as well and landed on Squirt's shell. Sheldon was left hanging upside down from the coral, hanging onto a branch by his tail. Pearl was holding onto him with a tentacle.

"Pearl, Sheldon, c'mon down!" Nemo called up to them with a smile. "We've got food!"

Pearl giggled and turned to Sheldon, giving him a big '"thank you" kiss on the cheek. Sheldon lost his grip, but Squirt was there to catch them on his shell.

Nemo smiled and swam over to Tad. "C'mon, Tad!" he urged. "We got food!"

"I can get my _own_ food, thank you." Tad announced spitefully. He turned towards the coral and swam backwards a bit. Then, he lowered his head and rushed at the coral, butting into it. He scowled when no blossoms would fall. He rammed his whole body against the coral over and over again as if it were going to help.

Nemo sighed. He grabbed a couple of the blossoms in his good fin and waited. Tad backed up with a glare and took one more solid ram at the coral. When he did, Nemo threw the two blossoms down to him, making it look like he had succeeded in knocking them off.

Tad smiled proudly at himself and ate a mouthful of petals. Nemo rolled his eyes.

"See there?" Tad smirked. "I can take care of myself." He turned and swam off towards a sandy hill to bed down. "All _by_ myself. _And_ I ain't afraid of bein' alone."

The other four just floated there and ate, not very impressed by their friend's boasting.

"I know my way around." Tad continued. "_And_ I'm not afraid of Greenspot!" He smirked at his friends. "…I sure hope he doesn't eat any of you," he sang.

Nemo gave him a glare, then leaned towards his friends. "Don't worry. There isn't any Greenspot," he muttered.

After another moment the friends started to find a spot to bed down. Tad was settled down on his sandy hill apart from the others. But one by one, Pearl, Sheldon, and Squirt all came to lie down next to him. Squirt came in first and rested on the flat next to him. Sheldon and Pearl followed and the four of them huddled together in a heap to keep warm.

A distance away, Nemo floated on his own underneath a coral arch. He stared at his friends for a moment, then sighed sadly and closed his eyes briefly. "…There isn't any Greenspot…" he muttered to himself, his voice faltering slightly. His head and tail hung low as he swam off towards another patch of sand, this one shielded a bit across the top by the branches of a fan coral. He suddenly felt very lonely as he lay down on the sand.

It was the first in a long time he truly felt his dad's absence. He had gotten so used to feeling the larger form resting beside him and the gradual rising and falling of gills alternating with his. Whenever Nemo was sick, couldn't sleep, or woke from a bad dream, he only needed to take one look around to be reminded that he was within the warm colors and atmosphere of his anemone home and completely safe next to his father. Tonight though, he was lying in the middle of a vast flat of sand, all alone without that familiar warmth and comfort. It was chillier out, and the dull, cold colors of the sand and rocks only added to the unwelcoming surroundings.

The young clownfish just lay there and stared at the ground, deep in thought and not very sleepy.

It didn't take long for Tad, Sheldon, and Squirt to fall asleep. Poor Pearl was startled awake by the boys' sudden, loud snoring. Irritated, she pouted a bit and tried to bury herself under Squirt's belly to drown out the noise. But that only made it worse. She glowered at her friends snoring like the men they were. Finally, she got up and began to swim over to where Nemo was.

Her clownfish friend was still awake and staring at the ground. Pearl came up right next to him and settled down into the sand, catching his attention. She leaned into Nemo and sighed contently, finally falling asleep. Nemo smiled and closed his eyes, happy to have someone there with him.

It wasn't too long before Sheldon, half-awake, drifted over to them and settled down on Nemo's other side, sprawling out on the ground with his head propped up on his clownfish friend's side. Almost immediately after that, Squirt came in and joined them, providing a majority of the warmth for his friends as he lay down next to them.

Tad's sleep was interrupted when he began to shiver a bit from the chill. His eyes barely opened and glanced over to his side. The young butterfly fish snapped his head up and gasped in surprise as he looked and noticed all of his friends were gone from his side when they had been they only a minute ago. He looked around for a moment, and then saw them over in the distance with Nemo. Tad frowned and lowered his head, feeling deserted and cold. He glanced at the ground, considering his options here. But finally he humbled himself some and got up. He slowly swam over to his friends.

Nemo opened one eye as he heard him coming and glanced over, smiling. Squirt smiled and lifted a flipper, allowing their friend to come underneath it into the warmth. Tad smiled and lay down with his friends, closing his eyes.

The five friends finally fell asleep in their huddle, comfortable in their collective warmth and sleeping the rest of the night through.

_**TBC…**_


	7. The Easy Way

_Chapter 7: The Easy Way_

Because of their exhausting travels of the previous day, Nemo and his friends ended up sleeping in the next morning. They had gone from a collective huddle to just being freely sprawled out around the same general area.

The silent daybreak was interrupted by a distant, low growl. Tad blinked awake right away, having been the only one to hear it. He got up and looked off in the distance, his eyes widening. Another growl rang out and made him shake. He ducked back down to his friends and hurried over to Nemo. "Nemo, wake up," he urged quietly. "Wake up!"

When Nemo wouldn't rouse, Tad nudged him harshly with his long nose. "C'mon, wake _up_!"

Nemo grunted and stirred awake, opening one eye to glare over at him. "Hey…what's the big idea?"

"Greenspot…" Tad whispered warily with wide eyes.

Nemo opened both his eyes and glared at him, getting really irritated of Tad's joking. "Tad, stop it!"

"He's gonna eat us!!" Tad yelled frantically to the others, waking them up. "He's gonna eat us!! Swim!!"

Startled awake by Tad's yelling and a looming shadow, Sheldon and Pearl and Squirt hightailed it out as fast as they could with Tad behind him.

"Come back!!" Nemo got up and demanded to his friends. Just then was when he noticed the looming shadow. He spun around with a terrified gasp as he found himself staring right into Greenspot's mouth. He turned and bolted as fast as he could go. The five friends screamed and dashed off with the barracuda in hot pursuit, roaring and snapping at them. In the chaos, Nemo's coral blossom was destroyed as Greenspot came tearing through.

"THAT WAY!!!" Nemo darted off towards the tunnel they had come through the day before. The others rushed after him, and Greenspot followed in hot pursuit. The friends went flying through the tunnel, and Tad shrieked as he barely managed to avoid getting his tail bitten off by those teeth.

Greenspot roared as he got stuck in the narrow tunnel, with only his head sticking out the other side. Tad stumbled forward and collided into his friends, and they all darted as far away as they could. Once they were a good distance away, the young butterfly fish turned around and glared at Greenspot as the barracuda hissed and unsuccessfully tried to squeeze through the tunnel.

"_Now_ will you believe me?!" Tad shot at Nemo.

"I'm sorry!" Nemo apologized. "We're safe now."

"Nobody's safe with you," Tad said coldly with a glare.

Nemo sighed and glanced up. He gasped when he saw a very large rock formation next to them. The rocky curves and the way one end of it forked out into the shape of a large horizontal tail lifted Nemo's spirits. "Look!" he pointed. "It's the rock that looks like a whale! Just like my dad said!" He shouted back to his friends and rushed forward. "We're going the right way! We're gonna get to Silver Reef!"

Their travels carried on for hours. At a few points, Sheldon or Pearl or Tad had to take a break and ride on Squirt for a while. After a long time though, all of them were already exhausted.

_Nemo had been wrong about Greenspot, but the others followed him. Their only hope was to reach Silver Reef, and Nemo alone knew the way._

Even Squirt was really beginning to get tired. As the friends had to climb a steep slope of rocks, the little sea turtle let out a groan and plopped down on the rocks, bushed.

Nemo was tired as well, but didn't want to give up. He panted and glanced down at his friends lower down on the slope. "C'mon, get up!" he coached. "We're going the right way! Gotta keep moving up."

Pearl and Sheldon were both collapsed in an exhausted heap. Pearl struggled to get up, but was just too beat.

"C'mon, you can't quit now!" Nemo gave them a look. "What if Silver Reef is just over the top of these rocks?"

His friends finally forced themselves up.

_Though they were sore-struck and tired, Nemo urged them on. He'd never seen Silver Reef, but his heart told them that they were close. Surely at the top, they'd behold it finally…_

The five friends finally pulled themselves up to the top of the ridge, all of them panting heavily. Then, they all lifted their heads to gaze upon what they had found.

It was anything but a lush reef. It was barren, rocky valley that was completely deprived of any life whatsoever. And on the other side there was another rocky slope the friends would have to scale.

"This is your stupid reef??" Tad snapped at Nemo, surprising everyone. "You're _crazy_!!!" He glared and turned to storm off. "That's it for me! I'm _leaving_!"

With a frown, Nemo glared at his friend's sudden attitude. "Tad, we have to keep following the wave winds!"

"I'm taking the _easy_ way for once." Tad announced. He began to swim away.

Nemo suddenly rushed in front of him, annoyed. "It's-the _wrong way, _Tad!"

"Who says?"

"My dad!"

"…Then _he_ was a stupid clownfish too!" Tad swam past Nemo.

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Nemo never let anyone insult his dad like that. The young clownfish darted right in front of Tad. "Take that back!!" he yelled.

"Never!"

"_Take it back_!!" Nemo roared in his face.

"_No_!!"

Enraged, Nemo tackled Tad. The two of them hit the ground and went tumbling rapidly down the hill into the valley.

"Whoa, dudes!" Squirt inched towards the edge of the hill. "Ch-Chill out for a second!"

"Squirt, look out!" Pearl called and grabbed one of his back flippers.

Sheldon noticed Squirt was beginning to slip. "Uh-oh." He grabbed the other flipper with his tail. "Squirt!!"

The rocks beneath them suddenly caved in and Sheldon and Pearl hung on for dear life as all three of them screamed and went sliding rapidly down the slope. Once they tumbled into the bottom, they looked up and saw Nemo and Tad were still at it.

Tad furiously swerved towards Nemo. "You little--!!" he growled and charged at Nemo, knocking him back into the rocky sand.

"Ow--!!" Nemo tumbled back, but was quick to get back up and rush at Tad. By this time, it had become a full-fledged fight. Sheldon, Pearl, and Squirt all hid together behind a boulder, shaking and watching the scrap with wide-eyes.

"Leggo of my tail!!" Tad shouted, and the three friends ducked behind the rock as a cloud of sand got kicked up in front of them.

They poked out their heads again, only to leap back in surprise when Nemo was thrown into the rock. But the little clownfish glared and jumped right back in. Sheldon ducked his head under Squirt's flipper to hide.

The three of them kept their heads down as the heated fight went on. Finally, after shoving Tad off again, Nemo realized what he was doing. Marlin had always taught him fighting didn't help anything – it only made friends angrier at each other and provided risk of someone getting hurt. Fighting back tears and deciding it was time to stop, he got up off the ground and started to swim away.

Tad wasn't done. With a glare, he ricocheted himself off of the boulder and for Nemo. Twisting his body to the side, Tad charged in and slammed broadside into the young clownfish one more time. Nemo crashed onto the sand with a cough and tumbled, finally coming to a stop facing Tad.

"_Baby_." Tad snapped back at him as he swam off.

With tears in his eyes, Nemo glared at him as he swam off. The young clownfish sniffled, then got up from the ground and yelled after him. "Go on!! Go 'head and _go _the wrong way!! We never wanted you with us anyway!"

As Tad swam off to head down the winding path of the canyon, Nemo turned and swam for the rocky slopes that would lead them out onto the other side. "C'mon!" he called back to the others. "We gotta keep going!"

Sheldon glanced back and forth, but then finally decided to follow Tad.

As he continued to scale the rocks, Nemo looked back at Pearl and Squirt lying exhausted on the sand below. "C'mon!" he urged.

His two friends looked up at him in exhaustion. "Tad's way _is_ easier…" Pearl panted, her back leaned against Squirt's shell.

"Totally, dude…" Squirt chimed in with a pant.

Nemo couldn't believe it. He looked surprised at first, but then just scowled at his friends. Then disregarding them, he turned and started to swim back up the rocky slope.

"H-Hey!" Ever-loyal Squirt called after his friend and tried to follow after him. "N-Nemo, wait!!" He struggled to catch up, but Nemo was swimming too fast and was just ignoring him. "C-C'mon, dude, don't be mad!" The little turtle stopped long enough to rest on the rocky slope. "Wait!" The rocks beneath his flippers suddenly came loose and he slipped back down the hill with a yelp. He started to follow Nemo again when he saw the little clownfish disappear out of sight over the slope. Squirt looked back and saw the rest of his friends swimming away. Finally and reluctantly, he turned and hurried after them.

"Tad!" Pearl called as they all chased after their friend. "Wait up! We're coming with you! Tad, Sheldon, wait!!"

And so it happened that Tad, Sheldon, Pearl, and Squirt all went one direction, and Nemo, all on his own, went the other.

_**TBC…**_


	8. Rescue Tad

_Chapter 8: Rescue Tad_

It wasn't long before Tad, Pearl, Sheldon, and Squirt found themselves in the Geyser Fields. It wasn't a very friendly place at all. It was vast rocky flat of cracked stone, and every so often from one of the cracks, a violent and powerful geyser would blow. However, the time and place of these explosions was so sporadic that at every second you were on the field, there was danger of getting scalded to death. The four friends moved cautiously across the field.

"I-I wish Nemo was with us…" Pearl said.

"M-M-Me too…" Sheldon echoed.

A sudden geyser blew up in front of Pearl and Squirt, scaring all four of them. Tad and Sheldon scampered off one way, and Pearl and Squirt dashed in the other.

When they could stop swimming, Tad and Sheldon paused and took a breather. Sheldon looked around. "…Where's Pearl and Squirt??"

"I don't know." Tad panted. "We'll meet 'em on the other side, c'mon!"

The two boys raced off, trying to get to the end of the fields as fast as they could. Another sudden geyser made them scream and try to band around it. Another one nearby shot off almost immediately after. Sheldon screamed and ducked to wait for it to stop. Tad, though, went bolting through as fast as he could and bolted for the end of the field like the devil was on his tail.

When the geyser stopped and Sheldon opened his eyes to look around, Tad had disappeared. "Tad?!" he looked around frantically and started to dart when another geyser shot up in front of them. With a scream, he turned tail and darted. "TAD, PEARL, SQUIRT!!!"

Squirt and Pearl were lost on the vast field as well, darting around and trying to avoid exploding geysers. "Help, Tad!!" Pearl screamed.

"Tad, dude, back us up!! Where are you?!?" Squirt yelled.

Nemo's path had taken him all the way to the far side of the Geyser Fields, where the explosions of the geysers weren't as erratic and it was safer. The little clownfish swam quietly and cautiously across the field until he suddenly heard familiar screaming in the distance. He gasped and went racing off as fast as he could to his friends' aid. He raced over and immediately spotted Pearl and Squirt darting around from the geysers.

"Nemo!!!" Pearl screamed.

"Pearl!!"

"Nemo, help!!!" Squirt shouted.

"I'm coming, hold on!!" Nemo went bolting down to them.

"Nemo!" Pearl started to rush over to him, but then screamed as Squirt pulled her back out of the path of another fierce geyser.

Nemo darted down to them. "Quick!!" he led them off to the side of the field where they were safe from the geysers and they all bolted towards where Sheldon was darting around, lost and screaming for help. "We're coming, Sheldon!!" Nemo yelled over to him as they swam over to the edge of the field near where Sheldon was. They looked across the field to him.

"Nemo!!" Sheldon yelled.

"C'mon, Sheldon, swim!! Over here!!"

Sheldon's eyes widened. "I-I…." He looked at the several spots where geysers were blowing between him and his friends.

"C'mon, Sheldon!!" Pearl shouted.

"You can do it, dude!!!" Squirt urged.

Sheldon winced, but finally closed his eyes tightly and barreled towards them as fast as he could with a loud yell. He just kept darting straight and fast and never stopped as geysers blew around them. The biggest one sent him tumbling straight forward into his friends and they all stumbled down into the mud.

In the meantime, Tad was swimming for his life through a cave just past the geysers. "HEELLLP!!!!" he screamed.

Two bullhead sharks were chasing him and snarling. Tad had wandered into their terrain, and these small sharks were incredibly territorial. The young butterfly fish raced way from the first two sharks only to run right into a third one. The shark snarled and lunged at him.

"AAHH!!" Tad yelped and darted away as fast as he could. He saw one of the sharks darting at him, and realized he had two sharks racing right at him from either side. He yelled and darted upwards, making the two sharks run right into each other and ram heads. This distracted the sharks long enough for Tad to make another break for it, but it also got them angrier. One of them raced ahead and blocked Tad's path, growling and glaring with open mouth.

Tad screamed and swerved around to swim the other way, and met right with the other two in his face. The young butterfly fish dove to the ground and covered his head. "Someone help me!!!" he shouted to no one in particular. "Help!! HEEELLLP!!"

Just as the sharks had the little fish cornered, all heads turned to the mouth of the cave at an enormous, snarling brown beast coming at them. The sharks immediately scurried away, forgetting about Tad.

Having chased the sharks out, the brown monster then started coming towards him. Tad was so shocked and terrified that at first he couldn't get up to escape. The monster was soon looming over him. "G-Get away!! Get away from me!!" Tad yelled and tried to scramble off. The young butterfly fish screamed as the figure reached out a flipper and grabbed him by the tail, lifting him up. He yelped. "Leggo of me, you ugly--Leggo!!" He demanded and swung his fins wildly, trying to break out of the supposed monster's grip. "Help!!!!" he yelled. He covered his eyes with his fins. "Sheldon, Squirt, Pearl, HELLLLLP!!!!"

"Tad?" Pearl's voice came to him. "It's us!"

Still hanging there by his tail, Tad panted with wide eyes, pulling himself back together again. He looked out of the corner of his eye and realized it really was just his friends, and that they had covered themselves in mud and piled themselves up in order to look like a big mud monster. After a moment, a smile crept up on Tad's face.

Nemo and the others started to laugh. Tad's smile was quick to disappear as he huffily tried to wring his tail out of Squirt's flipper. He finally did get himself out and promptly dropped to the ground with a yelp, now covered in mud like his friends.

When his friends starting laughing, he glared up at them. "You--!! I knew it was you guys all along!!" he announced. "I did!!"

The others just kept on giggling and laughing. Sheldon laughed so hard that he even sneezed, and some of the mud on him was thrown off into the water.

Tad scowled and pushed his way past them. "Just…get outta my way!" he huffed and stuck his nose up, storming off. He didn't get very far at all before he accidentally bumped his nose against a rock. Reeling back, he gripped it and wiggled it, making sure he hadn't bent it. He shot back a glare when he heard his friends laughing again. Then, sticking his tongue out at them, he angrily turned and stormed off.

After a moment, the friends all stopped laughing. They realized they had either struck Tad's nerves or really hurt his feelings. "Um… Tad?" Pearl called cautiously as he swam off.

"Tad, buddy, come back!" Nemo yelled. "We were just playing! Tad!"

Tad heard his friends calling, but just sniffled as he kept going. He reached the mouth of the cave and drifted down onto the sand, staring at the ground with tears in his eyes.

_Tad was still too proud to admit…he'd gone the wrong way._

With a whimper, Tad covered his eyes with his fins and began to cry. It was something he had always managed to keep from doing in front of his friends. But he was still a little kid, and being away from his home and parents so long was really beginning to bring him down.

_**TBC…**_


	9. The Trap

_Chapter 9: The Trap_

Nemo and the other three had to simply carry on without Tad. There was no telling where he had gone, and they finally gave in to Tad's constant insisting he knew where he was going.

Just past the cave was a slightly more lush part of the sandy landscape. There were a few brightly covered coral and a patch or two of kelp. Everything surrounded a dark, deep, black pit in the ground. It was so deep that no matter how hard you tried, you could never seem to see the bottom of it.

The four friends went around the pit, intimidated by its bleak emptiness. When they reached the other side safely, Sheldon let out an exhausted sigh and settled down into the sand for a breather.

Suddenly a loud, distant, shrieking roar made him jump up with wide eyes and dart behind Squirt. "AAAHH!! IT'S GREENSPOT!!" he yelled.

The friends dove behind a rock and barely peeked out from behind it. They saw the vicious barracuda scaling the distant slopes, growling lowly and sniffing around for food.

"How'd he get out of the tunnel??" Pearl questioned.

Nemo got a determined look on his face. He had seen this creature take his dad away from him and turn his friends against him. "Let's get rid of him once and for all." He announced.

Squirt looked at him. "How we gonna do that?"

"Look," Nemo began to conduct a plan and his friends gathered around him. "We'll coax him to the deep pit over here." He looked up on a high ridge where there was a giant boulder. "Me and Squirt will push that big rock over on his head, and it'll push 'im into the pit!" Nemo turned to Sheldon. "Sheldon, you whistle when Greenspot's right in the spot where the water gets dark. Now we'll need some bait…"

The boys thought for a moment, then their heads simultaneously turned to look at Pearl thoughtfully.

Pearl looked at them. "…Me? Oh, no-no-no…"

But the plan was already set in action. Greenspot was wandering through the cave, still sniffing and poking around for food to devour.

Fidgeting quietly and nervously to herself, Pearl drifted into the cave. She saw Greenspot with his back to her and bit her lip. A sudden snarl from the barracuda made her whimper and dive behind a rock. Slowly, she peeked out from behind it. Then with a deep breath, she screamed as hard and loudly as she could and ducked behind the rock again.

Greenspot snapped his head up with a snarl at the noise and looked around. Pearl stayed hidden behind the rock, and after a while she realized it was too quiet. She peeked out only to find that Greenspot had disappeared somehow. Warily, she looked around. She started to come out from behind the rock to look for him, but thought better of it and stayed hidden. Slowly, she began to swim backwards for the mouth of the cave, still looking around for danger.

Suddenly, there was a shrieking roar directly behind her accompanied by a huge rumble, a sudden cloud of silt, and the metallic sound of teeth. Pearl gave a loud and shrill shriek, making a dive underneath Greenspot and darting as fast as she could for the dark pit where she was supposed to lead him.

Roaring and shrieking, Greenspot snapped at her, colliding into the sand and flinging up a cloud of it. He took another lunge and snapped, and Pearl yelped as she accidentally stumbled back against the end of his snout. She screamed as she went riding on Greenspot down the sandy slopes and they both careened into the pit.

Nemo, Sheldon, and Squirt all watched from the ridge above in horror. "Pearl!!" Sheldon shouted.

Pearl had been able to escape Greenspot, and screamed as she fought her way back up to safe waters, quickly hiding herself behind a rock. The barracuda angrily thrashed his tail and head around and roared, floating right above the pit.

Sheldon saw his cue and bounced, trying to whistle until he realized he hadn't learned how to do that yet. He pointed downwards with his tail frantically. "Hey! Hey!!" he shouted up to Nemo and Squirt, who were floating up on the high ridge with the big boulder. "Heeeeeeeeyyyyy!!!!!"

Nemo and Squirt got the message and they both began pushing against the rock as hard as they could. Just then, Greenspot heard Sheldon's signal and glanced up, spotting the three of them. He growled and turned towards them, hungrily eyeing mainly Nemo and Squirt. "Push, Squirt, push!!!" Nemo yelled over to his friend, and the two of them grunted and shoved against the boulder as hard as they could, slowly budging it inch by inch.

In order to buy them more time, Sheldon snagged a small rock with his tail and chucked it at the predator. It bounced off of Greenspot's nose and the barracuda looked up and growled at Sheldon.

"Ha-hah!!" Sheldon pointed and laughed.

Greenspot snarled and made a wild lunge for the little seahorse, snapping his teeth a mere inch away from his tail. Sheldon yelped tried to paddle upwards to keep away from the white blades.

In his thrashing, Greenspot had spotted Pearl trying to make a getaway and snarled, lunging at her. "HELP!!" she screamed, and all at once both she and Greenspot went sliding back down towards the pit.

"Pearl!!" Nemo yelled.

Sheldon gasped when he saw his friend on Greenspot's snout. Then, suddenly brave, the little seahorse puffed out his chest and took a streamlining dive towards Pearl and the barracuda. With the strong grip of his tail, he landed on Greenspot's eyelid. With a roar, the predator reared his head back and shook it, trying to shake the little pest off. Sheldon yelped as he was flung back.

Greenspot turned his attention back towards Nemo and Squirt, now angrier than ever. With a fierce shriek he took a lunge bigger than any he had yet made and practically landed on top of the boulder with his head right above Nemo and Squirt. The boys both gave a startled yell at the sudden weight and presence of the barracuda, who kept on trying to snap them up but couldn't quite turn his head far back enough. Nemo, Squirt, and now Pearl just kept on pushing as hard and frantically as they could, now mere centimeters away from Greenspot's teeth. They needed only a few more inches to push before the rock fell. Sheldon rammed Greenspot in the face, trying to drive him away.

Just then Nemo heard a voice in the distance, yelling out to him.

"I'm coming!!!!" it yelled. Only two seconds later, a yellow and purple blur came out of nowhere and smacked into the boulder broadside as hard as it could.

"Tad!!" Nemo shouted.

That final smack from Tad combined with the straining of Nemo and Squirt and Pearl finally paid off, and Greenspot gave a shrieking roar as the boulder fell off the ridge and caught him in the stomach, flinging him down into the pit.

"Wh-Whoa!!" Sheldon tried to scramble out of the way of the careening barracuda and boulder, but got smacked by Greenspot's tail and screamed as he was thrown down into the pit with him.

His four friends gasped in horror and watched closely for any sign of their friend as they saw Greenspot disappear into the darkness, his shrieking fading off soon after. Then everything fell silent as they all watched anxiously for the valiant little seahorse.

Finally, after a long, quiet moment, they all realized the worst must had happened. Pearl's eyes filled with tears. "H-He saved my life down there." She sniffled.

Sadly, Nemo and his friends began to slowly sulk off down the ridge. Pearl stayed behind a moment, still crying a little for her friend.

But all at once, Sheldon appeared over the ridge and nearly collapsed down on it, panting and exhausted from escaping the pit. "Hey! Stop!" he yelled out, and looked up at them with wide, innocent eyes. "You guys aren't gonna just leave me here, are ya?"

Pearl opened her eyes and gasped. A big smile slowly came up on her face and she swerved around towards her friend. Sheldon groaned in exhaustion and before he knew it, his chin plunked to the ground. "Sheldon!!" Pearl cheered and raced over to him, hugging him tightly. "You're safe!"

"Ack—" Sheldon's eyes bugged out slightly under the death hug.

Although he could hear Sheldon coming back and Pearl's joyous cheering, Nemo still felt distraught. Once again he could feel the absence of his father, and he all of the sudden felt extremely lonely. He swam alone up to the top of a majestic coral and just floated there, staring at the ground. He wasn't even sure if he knew where he was going anymore. Because of him, he and his friends had almost gotten killed or eaten several times, and even though they trusted him, he still hadn't gotten them where he promised. He wasn't a leader – he was just a kid. And though he might've never said it out loud in front of his friends, he really needed and wanted his dad. He wished more than anything Marlin was there to encourage him and show him where to go now. With a sniffle, Nemo tried to hold back tears.

Just then, a single beam of light shone quietly down through the water not too far in front of him.

_Nemo…_

Nemo looked up and gasped when he heard the familiar voice. "Daddy!" he cried and raced over. He slowed down as he came into the silver beam, and looked up.

_**TBC…**_


	10. Silver Reef

_Chapter 10: Silver Reef_

_Nemo…_

Nemo stood underneath the silvery beam of light and just stared at the waves above him. They were rolling more quietly than usual, and somehow Nemo knew that meant his dad was there listening to him. "…Dad…?" he spoke up quietly, "…I-I can't do this anymore… I-I did everything you told me to, but…b-but it's just so hard to do it by myself…" The young clownfish sniffled and hung his head. "…I-I'll never get us to Silver Reef…"

At that point, the beam of light he was standing under faded, and Nemo felt a small, rushing current go past him. He gasped as he saw it rushing away with some invisible force. "Dad…? Dad!!" He panicked and chased after it as fast as his tail could take him. "Don't go, Daddy!! Wait!!"

The current just kept on going and led Nemo through a small tunnel. Nemo raced through, desperate to keep up. When he finally came to the other side, he pulled to a quick stop right at the peak of a giant hill. The current drifted out into the water in front of him and suddenly faded off into nothing. Then, the golden beam Nemo had seen before poured back through the water and shone onto him. Little by little, the beam began to broaden out towards the vastness in front of Nemo. The young clownfish looked out and gasped quietly as the light slowly unveiled a sight he had never seen anything like – a gorgeous, lush coral reef that had to stretch for miles lay before him. The reef was teeming with all variety of life, and brightly colored coral of all kinds and bountiful plots of lush kelp and seaweed adorned the majestic valley cradling the glorious paradise – Silver Reef.

Nemo could only gawk with his mouth gaping open at the breathtaking, glorious sight. But when he was too excited to hold it in anymore, he swerved around and yelled through the tunnel as loudly as he could. "Tad, Pearl, Squirt, Sheldon, hurry!!!" he called.

Hearing his yell, his four friends came racing through the tunnel quickly and they all raced to the edge of the hill with Nemo. All of them skidded to a stop and gasped at the sight.

"Whoa…" Tad's jaw dropped.

"You found it!!" Pearl smiled.

The five friends all looked over the reef excitedly. "_We did it!_!!" Nemo shouted, triggering all five of them to go diving down the hill towards the valley, cheering and laughing.

_Silver Reef was all they had dreamed it would be – a land of green, of leaves, and life. There were flourishing coral beds, green forests of kelp, enough coral blossoms to feast on forever, and grazing upon them…their families._

Pearl saw her family almost immediately and bolted for them as fast as she could. "Daddy!!" she shouted. "MOM!!!" She took a pounce at her parents and Jodi caught her and cuddled her close with happiness. Ted and all of Pearl's siblings raced over to them.

"DAD!!!" Squirt came bolting for his father.

"SQUIRT, DUDE, YOU'RE BACK!!!" Crush smiled big as Squirt sprung at him and landed on his head, hugging him tightly. The big turtle laughed and curled an embracing flipper over his son. They were soon joined by Squirt's mother, Keona, and all 23 of his older brothers and sisters. Squirt looked up at his mom and smiled, and the two of them nuzzled.

Sheldon went flying towards his parents and leaped on his dad in a big hug. Bob smiled and curled his head around his son in an embrace. Leila, Sheldon's mom, came racing over to them and Sheldon bolted over to her. "Mama!!"

Leila gave a deep sigh of relief and snuggled him close.

"Mom!!" Tad bolted for his family. "DAD!!!"

Phil and his family spun around at the sound of his yelling. All of Tad's sisters gasped happily and raced towards him. "Tad!!!" they cheered.

Tad tackle-hugged Tara and clung to her tightly. She smiled and hugged her son closely. Phil swam up to them. "Tad!!" he smiled, and Tad turned towards him with a big grin and pounced on him in a hug.

Nemo finally found his family too. He found Dory, Gill, and all his friends from the tank – the people he was familiar with, and who loved him. He closed his eyes happily as Dory embraced him. They pulled back and smiled at each other, and Nemo then turned and darted to Gill, gripping him in a hug. Gill chuckled and decided he could hug back a bit.

After greeting his new caretakers, Nemo smiled and raced over to the top of a small hill. He looked up at the waves above.

_And Nemo found Dory and all of his friends, at last. And looking up at the waves, he knew Marlin was there, and he felt a sense of security in knowing he was under watch of those eyes – the same loving eyes he had looked into on the day of his birth._

Nemo smiled as he watched the waves. He could almost remember that first day of his life, and the immediate trust in his father that came to him at the first touch. He reflected on everything that had happened the past few days – receiving his first coral blossom from his dad, discovering the cricket fish haven with Tad, and the quiet, heartrending night that had followed when he remembered Marlin curled around him lovingly and encouraging him with his final words. Nemo remembered swimming with Pearl and playing with the surface of the water, and he remembered Tad letting go of his pride long enough to come and bed down with his friends under Squirt's flipper.

"Hey, Nemo!" Tad broke his thoughts and called to him from down the hill. "Last one to the bluff is a sea snail!!"

Nemo smiled and darted after his friend. They raced up to the top of a bluff, and were soon joined by Pearl, Sheldon, and Squirt. The five friends all grouped together and looked out onto the vast lushness of Silver Reef.

_And they all grew up together in the reef – Generation upon generation, each passing on to the next the tale of their ancestors' journey to the reef…long ago._

_**The End!!**_


End file.
